Liverpoolvs.Southampton

The Reds can temporarily open up a 16-point advantage over second-placed Arsenal in the top-flight table in the weekend's fixture, as the Gunners do not return to action until Sunday against the Red Devils.

Liverpool's home battle with Southampton pits first against worst on Merseyside, and Arne Slot's champions-elect boast an astonishing 58-point lead over Ivan Juric's 20th-placed men.

After a smash-and-grab 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, few will expect anything other than a resounding Reds win on Saturday, especially as they are now unbeaten in 24 straight top-flight games.

However, should the Premier League leaders suffer the humiliation of defeat, they would join Man United as the only other team to have a 24+ game Premier League unbeaten run ended by the side at the bottom of the table.

Liverpool could suffer Man United fate in Southampton clash

Back in February 2011, Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils were on a 29-game Premier League unbeaten streak before meeting 20th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, who astonishingly won 2-1 at Molineux.

No other team on such a hot streak either identical or better than Liverpool's has lost it to the bottom-placed side since, although the form book and statistics certainly still work in the Reds' favour.

Indeed, Slot's men have netted at least twice in each of their last 18 home matches across all competitions, while Southampton have lost the second-most amount of Premier League games since the start of the 2022-23 season.

The Saints' 47 defeats in that time can only be trumped by Wolverhampton Wanderers' 54, even though Southampton spent the 2023-24 campaign in the Championship, which they are all but consigned to return to.

Saturday's visitors are on a six-game losing sequence in Premier League games at Anfield - shipping 19 goals and only scoring one in that time - and they will no doubt come up against a fired-up Mohamed Salah.

Salah chasing down Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer tallies

The 32-year-old endured an increasingly rare off night against PSG and was taken off for Harvey Elliott, who stepped up to the plate with a late winner after Slot's side absorbed relentless pressure from Luis Enrique's team.

However, Salah has had a direct hand in a goal in each of his last 11 Premier League home appearances, the fourth-best streak in history and just one behind Thierry Henry's run of 12 for Arsenal in 2002-03.

The Egypt international is still a little way away from matching the all-time record for a single season, though, as Alan Shearer astonishingly scored in all 15 of his Premier League home appearances for Newcastle United in the 1996-97 campaign.

Salah was on target twice in November's reverse fixture, where Liverpool ran out 3-2 winners at St Mary's, and the former Chelsea man boasts an eye-catching individual record against Saturday's visitors.

Written by

Ben Knapton